Review: Wedding of the Season

I absolutely LOVED Lauren Edmondson’s debut novel Ladies of the House when I read it back in 2021 (review here). So, I had high hopes for her sophomore novel, Wedding of the Season. It didn’t quite live up to her first novel but it was still a really engaging read full of family drama and well-rounded characters.

Here’s the book’s description:

It's the wedding of the season and all of Newport is abuzz in this funny, joyous, whip-smart novel about two modern-day society families and the summer wedding that has the whole town talking...
Despite its beauty, Newport is a place Cass Coventry would prefer to forget. But after an extended absence, she’s back in her hometown to celebrate her sister’s engagement—even if she’s marrying into the family that famously stole the Gilded Age Coventry mansion out from under them a decade ago.
The moment Cass pulls up to the estate, she’s in for one surprise after another. The bride-to-be is hiding a big secret. Her mother has royal-wedding aspirations. And, when the date is set for only three months away, a local gossip blog makes the two families its new favorite subject.
It's not long before Cass's weekend in town becomes a full summer of frenzied wedding planning and society drama—but also idyllic sails, starry nights, and a former love. As the grand affair arrives, along with new truths about her family, Cass must finally face her own thorny past in Newport and decide how to honor the Coventry legacy in all its chaotic glory.

Wedding of the Season felt like a very gossip-y book - in a good way. Maybe that was because there was an anonymous gossip blogger writing about all the drama that was unfolding. But it was really quite delightful to sit by and read as Cass’ family’s secrets were revealed to the entire town. Who are also sitting by, absolutely delighted at the (further) fall from grace, and quite content to talk about the Coventry's behind their backs. And sometimes right in front of them. Scandalous!

I really liked Cass. She was flawed in a way that it would have been so easy to get frustrated with her and not care about her story but Edmondson made me care. She was a good person who had made some silly choices (ugh so silly) but it was nothing she couldn’t come back from. She was talented and cared about her family, as much as they infuriated her. She had layers which made her a really enjoyable main character to read.

I don’t know if it was because of Edmondson’s previous novel, which was a modernization of Sense and Sensibility, but I was totally getting Pride and Prejudice vibes from this one. Cass was a lot like Elizabeth, and her sister played the role of Jane, who is marrying the rich neighbour (“Netherfield Park is let at last!”). There’s a lot of pride and a hefty dose of prejudice throughout the book. Cass is convinced that her family is an embarrassment and she caused some of that embarrassment many years ago, which had her staying away from town for far too long. She was too self-absorbed to realize the pain she was causing and I found myself desperately hoping that she would figure it out and work to repair all the relationships she had been damaging by refusing to come home.

The setting of this book makes it a really enjoyable book to read in the summer. I really felt like I was in Newport, somewhere I’ve never been in my life. But I could really get a sense of the town and how it would have felt to grow up there, thanks to Edmondson’s writing.

Wedding of the Season may not have blown me away but I still very much enjoyed the time I spent reading Lauren Edmondson’s newest book. I’m really looking forward to reading whatever she comes out with next!

*An egalley of this novel was provided by the publisher, HarperCollins/HTP Books, via NetGalley. All opinions are honest and my own.*